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I know you're not actually asking for answer but the US spends trillions of dollars a year supporting homeless and otherwise disadvantaged people. There are pub

I know you're not actually asking for answer but the US spends trillions of dollars a year supporting homeless and otherwise disadvantaged people. There are public programs that exist solely to provide these people the help they need. In most cities something like half the homeless refuse free shelter.

engineer_22 2y ago
> the US spends trillions of dollars a year supporting homeless and otherwise No it doesn't
crooked-v 2y ago
In most cities, free shelter sucks. It's only available on a day by day basis (sometimes requiring waiting in line in a specific place as late as 7 or 8 pm to know if there will be any beds open), or it has weird hours that get in the way of working schedules, or it requires people to participate in religious activities, or it puts everyone in one big room with no safety measures, or it has no way to store even minimal possessions securely, or it has nowhere to plug in a phone charger, or it has all the spaces to plug in phone chargers in one heap where it's easy for someone to steal a phone as everyone's being made to rush out the door at 7 AM, or it doesn't allow even well-behaved animals, or... And on top of that, there's almost always a drastic shortage in shelter beds, so even people who jump through all the hoops only have a small chance of getting a spot. For example, Portland here, which is considered pretty homeless-friendly by a lot of people, only has enough shelter beds for about 1/5th of the homeless population. For a lot of people, even perfectly functional, non-mentally-ill people, this makes it a perfectly logical move to look at shelters as only a measure of last resort and otherwise sleep in a car or find somewhere out of the way that will let them put their energy into trying to improve their situation rather than into trying to satisfy a new shelter's rules every day.
- rightbyte 2y ago
  I don't think it is a good idea to run psych wards but without doctors and nurses and calling it something else to avoid moral responsibility. But fundamentally it seems to me that shelters are just that. Really bad psych wards that no sane homeless person would set their foot in.
FireBeyond 2y ago
> US spends trillions of dollars a year supporting homeless and otherwise disadvantaged people Horseshit. It's less than $50B, most of which goes to subsidized housing. The actual amount spent directly on homelessness is likely less than $20B. > In most cities something like half the homeless refuse free shelter. I guarantee you there aren't free shelter beds for half the US's homeless population. These are just talking points.

engineer_22 2y ago

> the US spends trillions of dollars a year supporting homeless and otherwise No it doesn't

crooked-v 2y ago

In most cities, free shelter sucks. It's only available on a day by day basis (sometimes requiring waiting in line in a specific place as late as 7 or 8 pm to know if there will be any beds open), or it has weird hours that get in the way of working schedules, or it requires people to participate in religious activities, or it puts everyone in one big room with no safety measures, or it has no way to store even minimal possessions securely, or it has nowhere to plug in a phone charger, or it has all the spaces to plug in phone chargers in one heap where it's easy for someone to steal a phone as everyone's being made to rush out the door at 7 AM, or it doesn't allow even well-behaved animals, or... And on top of that, there's almost always a drastic shortage in shelter beds, so even people who jump through all the hoops only have a small chance of getting a spot. For example, Portland here, which is considered pretty homeless-friendly by a lot of people, only has enough shelter beds for about 1/5th of the homeless population. For a lot of people, even perfectly functional, non-mentally-ill people, this makes it a perfectly logical move to look at shelters as only a measure of last resort and otherwise sleep in a car or find somewhere out of the way that will let them put their energy into trying to improve their situation rather than into trying to satisfy a new shelter's rules every day.

rightbyte 2y ago
I don't think it is a good idea to run psych wards but without doctors and nurses and calling it something else to avoid moral responsibility. But fundamentally it seems to me that shelters are just that. Really bad psych wards that no sane homeless person would set their foot in.

FireBeyond 2y ago

> US spends trillions of dollars a year supporting homeless and otherwise disadvantaged people Horseshit. It's less than $50B, most of which goes to subsidized housing. The actual amount spent directly on homelessness is likely less than $20B. > In most cities something like half the homeless refuse free shelter. I guarantee you there aren't free shelter beds for half the US's homeless population. These are just talking points.